There are many possible causes of insomnia. Sometimes there is one main cause, but often several factors interacting together will cause a sleep disturbance. Insomnia may be caused by:

• 1. Stress, or how effectively a person copes with any emotional, physical, social, economic, or other factor that requires a response or change. Stress can be caused by fear about a single event, such as giving a speech. Or you may have ongoing stress, such as worry about work.

• 2. Depression, anxiety, and other mental or emotional conditions. Depression is a mood disturbance characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement.

• 3. Poor sleep habits, such as watching TV in bed or not having a regular bedtime schedule. If you have trouble sleeping, you may worry about being able to fall asleep. This can make the problem worse.

• 4.Changes in your sleep habits or surroundings. This includes changes that happen where you sleep, such as noise, light, or sleeping in a different bed. It also includes changes in your sleep pattern, such as having jet lag or working a late shift.

• 5. Pain, breathing problems, restless legs syndrome, and many other health problems.

• 6.Overuse of caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine most commonly disrupts sleep. While a drink or two before bed may help a person relax, more than that can lead to fragmented sleep and wakefulness a few hours later. Read The Full Story…

Do you really have insomnia?

Perhaps you’re for all time tired. Always feel like you need a good few hours sleep, but can’t get it.

Maybe your relationship is suffering because you’re tossing and turning all night disturbs your partner. Maybe you’re grumpy when you’re tired and your partner has had enough of your bad moods.

Insomnia can be a huge problem. And if you have it it’s probably a huge problem for you right now. Maybe it’s causing you some physical or mental health problems for example.

It’s not unusual to have a few nights when you don’t sleep perfectly. Maybe you’re worried about something. Everyone has those.

But it is a big difference between the odd night, interrupted sleep, night after night of sleeplessness.

And there are different types of sleep disorders. Maybe you can not get to from the first moment to sleep in bed. Or you can sleep but then wake up at 3 clock in the morning and can not sleep again. Or you sleep fine to 5 and that’s it. Read The Full Story…

The widely used club drug ecstasy appears to increase the risk of sleep apnea, say U.S. researchers.

“People who use ecstasy need to know that this drug damages the brain and can cause immediate and dangerous problems such as sleep apnea,” study author Dr. Una McCann, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a news release.

McCann and colleagues conducted sleep tests on 71 people who’d used ecstasy (MDMA) and 62 people who’d never used the illegal drug. Ecstasy users had a more than eight-fold increased risk of sleep apnea compared to non-users. Mild sleep apnea rates were similar in both groups (21% of ecstasy users and 27% of non-users), but only ecstasy users had moderate (13%) or severe (1%) sleep apnea.

The longer a person used ecstasy, the more sleep apnea episodes they experienced, said the researchers. They also found that ecstasy use was a greater risk factor for sleep apnea than obesity.

The study is published in the Dec. 2 online issue of the journal Neurology.

Source: http://www.medicinenet.com

Certain, caffeine will keep you up at night, but it doesn’t compare to the stare-at-the-ceiling power of stress. In a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers discovered that untamed tension increases the odds of insomnia by 43 percent. Maybe that explains why Fresno, not New York, is the city that never sleeps: It has a 12.7 percent unemployment rate. By comparison, the most-rested address, Honolulu, has a jobless rate of just 5.9 percent.

We know this because we stayed up late sifting through stats. These included Simmons market research on the percentage of people in each city who average 7 or fewer hours of sleep a night, the number who’ve suffered from insomnia, and the percentage who report popping sleeping pills; and, from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the number of sleep-disorders centers per capita. We learned that while not that many people are sleepless in Seattle, an awful lot are tired in Texas.

1. Honolulu, HI A+

2. St. Paul, MN A+

3. Fremont, CA A+

4. Atlanta, GA A

5. Minneapolis, MN A

6. Oakland, CA A

7. San Francisco, CA A-

8. San Jose, CA A-

9. Columbus, OH B+

10. Omaha, NE B+

11. Salt Lake City, UT B+

12. Des Moines, IA B+

13. Providence, RI B+

14. Indianapolis, IN B+

15. Cincinnati, OH B+

16. Raleigh, NC B

17. Boston, MA B

18. Fort Wayne, IN B

19. Philadelphia, PA B

20. Durham, NC B

21. Portland, OR B

22. Madison, WI B

23. Spokane, WA B

24. Kansas City, MO B

25. St. Louis, MO B-

26. Boise, ID B-

27. Lincoln, NE B-

28. Baton Rouge, LA B-

29. New Orleans, LA B-

30. Anchorage, AK B-

31. Toledo, OH B-

32. Seattle, WA B-

33. Grand Rapids, MI B-

Missing out on rest can harm brain cell making.

Missing out on sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells show a new study.

A team from Princeton University found a lack of sleep affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories. The research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed a stress hormone causes the effect. UK expert said it would be interesting to see if too little rather than no sleep had the same consequence.

The researchers compared animals that were deprived of sleep for 72 hours with others who were not.

They found those who missed out on rest had higher levels of the stress hormone corticosterone.

They also produced significantly fewer new brain cells in a particular region of the hippocampus.

When the animals’ corticosterone levels were kept at a constant level, the reduction in cell proliferation was abolished. Read The Full Story…

If you’ve ever experienced a sleep problem, you know how exasperating it can be. The harder you try to make sleep come, the more sleep eludes you. Instead of counting sheep, sometimes the best way to handle persistent sleeplessness is to stop fighting it. There are lots of things you can do to for a good and quick sleep.

If you are having trouble sleeping, the following tips might help:

1. Drink a glass of warm milk. It turns out there’s a scientific basis for your grandmother’s old-time remedy. Milk contains tryptophan, a chemical that may promote sleep in some people.

2. Try a peaceful mind exercise. For instance, count backward from 100 with your eyes closed. By the time you get to 10 (yawn) we hope you’ll feel very sleepy. And by 5, we hope you’ll feel yourself drifting off … 3, 2, 1, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

3. Read a book or listen music. Reading a peaceful book before or playing soothing music can help you have sweet dreams.

4. Make Your Bedroom Dark. The contrast between light during the day and dark at night helps reinforce your body’s natural rhythms. By making your bedroom dark at night, you will be able to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Closing drapes and doors can help reduce the light in your bedroom. Read The Full Story…

Food can be a frequent source of creating a chemical cause for insomnia. If you are suffering from insomnia on a nightly basis, you should verify your diet to see if there is a source that may be contributing to your sleepless nights. Coffee, soda, chocolate, desserts, and spicy foods can all be the culprit behind your night waking.

Here is a list of most important foods that can interfere with your sleep:

1. Alcohol may seem to help you fall asleep, it can disrupt your normal sleep pattern during the second half of the night and leave you feeling unrested. It’s best to avoid alcohol before bedtime.

2. Nicotine. Nicotine is a stimulant that can keep you awake. Avoid smoking in the six hours before your bedtime.

3. Avoid bacon, cheese, chocolate, eggplant, ham, potatoes, sauerkraut, sugar, sausage, spinach, tomatoes, and wine close to bedtime. These foods contain tyramine, which increases the release of norepinephrine, a brain stimulant.

4. Sugar and foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates. These raise blood-sugar levels and can cause a burst of energy that disturbs sleep.

5. Caffeine is a food that you must avoid for a healthy sleep. Avoid caffeine in all forms (tea, coffee, cola, chocolate).

6. Chinese food is a very common cause of insomnia. This is because of the high level of MSG stimulant used to cook the food. MSG can also be found in many seasonings, it is used as a preservative. Read The Full Story…

Insomnia is categorized by the inability to fall asleep when you go to bed and, or, waking during the night and not being able to get back to sleep.

Treatment for insomnia is many-sided and incorporates many techniques including herbal medicine, vitamin and mineral supplements, lifestyle changes, improved sleep hygiene, massage therapy, behavioral therapy, meditation, diet, exercise, hypnosis, acupuncture, relaxation, guided imagery, and homeopathy.

In such cases herbs can be quite helpful, not only in helping to get some sleep, but in nourishing the nervous system as well.

Here is a top 10 natural remedies for insomnia:

1. Melatonin. Is a popular remedy to help people fall asleep when the sleep/wake cycle has been disturbed, such as in shift workers or people who with jet lag.

Melatonin is a hormone found naturally in the body. The pineal gland in the brain makes serotonin which is then converted into melatonin at night when exposure to light decreases.

Melatonin is typically taken about 30 minutes before the desired bedtime. Some experts caution that melatonin should not be used by people with depression, schizophrenia, autoimmune diseases, and other serious illness. Pregnant and nursing women should not use melatonin.

2. Chamomile. Is a time-honored sedative herb which can be safely used by children and adults alike. Chamomile tea is commonly used in Europe, South America, and Mexico for insomnia and restlessness combined with irritability, particularly in children. Chamomile oil can also be put in bath water (5-6 drops) to soothe overwrought nerves, diluted to 2% to make an excellent massage oil, or used as an inhalant.

3. Lavender. Is a gentle strengthening tonic for the nervous system. A few drops of lavender oil added to a bath before bedtime are recommended for persons with sleep disorders. Additionally, the oil may be used as a compress or massage oil or simply inhaled to alleviate insomnia. Read The Full Story…

There are many factors, both internal and external, that can influence the quantity and quality of your sleep. Food can be a common source of creating a chemical origin for insomnia. You may not be able to control or eliminate all of the factors that interfere with your sleep, but you can create an environment and adopt habits that encourage a more restful night.

Here are a ten “Not-to-do” lists that may improve your quality of sleep:

1.Eat right, sleep tight. Try not to go to bed hungry, but avoid heavy meals before bedtime. An over-full belly can keep you up. Some foods can help, though. Milk contains tryptophan, which is a sleep-promoting substance. Other foods that may help promote sleep include tuna, halibut, pumpkin, artichokes, avocados, almonds, eggs, bok choy, peaches, walnuts, apricots, oats, asparagus, potatoes, buckwheat, and bananas.

2. Avoid napping. Napping can only make matters worse if you usually have problems falling asleep. If you do nap, keep it short. A brief 15-20-minute snooze about eight hours after you get up in the morning can actually be rejuvenating.

3. Avoid watching TV, eating, and discussing emotional issues in bed. The bed should be used for sleep and sex only. If not, you can end up associating the bed with distracting activities that could make it difficult for you to fall asleep.

4. Avoid smoking. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which has been linked to difficulty falling asleep and problems awakening. Also, when smokers fall asleep, they experience nicotine withdrawal, which may cause them to awaken. Read The Full Story…

Does the full moon affect our sleep? How about the cycles of the moon? Many disorders seem to follow the phases of the moon. When the moon is full, some people may suffer from insomnia, nightmares, strange dreams, and some people even sleepwalk. There is one more interesting fact that some people sleep better when the moon is full, even if its shine falls into their faces.

… But: Austrian scientists have shown that sleep patterns are not affected by the phases of the moon.

• Numerous studies have tried to find lunar effects. Reuters reports that researchers with the Austrian Society for Sleep Medicine & Sleep Research examined the sleep patterns of 391 people in several European countries. About half the subjects had sleeping disorders, but no one knew the researchers were interested in the effect of the moon. “When I deal with patients with sleep problems, so many say that the full moon stopped them (from) sleeping, that even I was expecting some small difference to show up in the study,” Gerhardt Kloesch, the Vienna University psychologist who led the current research, told Reuters.

• In fact, just 8 percent of those surveyed had problems sleeping while there was a full moon, compared to 25 percent who said they had a particularly good night’s sleep on the night of a full moon. Read The Full Story…